The minimum wage has an effect not dissimalr to the VAT tax in the UK - highly inflationary.
Yes the general population does not see it as increased costs for whoever pays their salary. They think all of us business owners are rich and won't notice higher costs.
The reminds me I was recently arguing with a liberal about this very subject, she was claiming it was all a lie about raising costs, and she said we can make it a more perfect world if we just ignore things like the minimum wage...
My reply was, hell yeah if I can deny the laws of reality I can make my world a better place immediately as well. I told her "if I could do that I would just wish you into Marilyn Monroe who was quite infatuated with me and wanted to call her lesser know twin sister so they could give me a roll in the hay together."
Believe it or not she was not at all amused.
Yes...... it's all about the unions, in my opinion. Every time the minimum wage goes up, the unions will be able to ask for a bigger raise. Very inflationary.